1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an electrical socket for receiving an electrical component. The invention more particularly concerns a socket mounted to a circuit board, where the socket receives a transceiver such as a small form factor (SFF) transceiver.
2. Discussion of the Background
The electronics industry is an industry where the competition is fierce. Customers of electronic suppliers require that the finished product perform as specified and that the price be as low as possible. Pricing pressures exist since there are many electronic suppliers and the customers demand high quality, low price, and custom built products. Many electronics suppliers supply products of acceptable quality or otherwise they would not stay in business. So, the electronics suppliers differentiate themselves from other suppliers by offering their products at the lowest possible price or by providing features or services to the customers that other suppliers are either unable or unwilling to provide.
Additionally, due to the unique demands of a diverse customer base, electronics suppliers can no longer make a one-size-fit-all product. Such requirements tend to increase the cost of the finished product. For instance, if ten different customers want ten different versions of an optoelectronic bidirectional data transceiver included in their product, then the electronics supplier will have to inventory ten different versions of the transceiver. For example, the customer may want a small form factor transceiver. More importantly, the electronics supplier may have to attach ten different versions of the small form factor transceiver to a printed circuit board and then track those printed circuit boards throughout the factory. The finished printed circuit board is acceptable to only one customer. So, if the printed circuit board is to be salvaged, then the small form factor transceiver must be removed from the printed circuit board with a soldering iron. Hopefully, during the removal process, other components on the printed circuit board are not destroyed. An additional drawback exists when a customer wants to change the version of the small form factor transceiver that is on their printed circuit board, the customer will either send the printed circuit board back to the manufacturer for re-work, or the customer will purchase a new printed circuit board containing the desired small form factor transceiver.
A side view of an example of a present commercial embodiment of a small form factor transceiver 10 is shown in FIG. 1. A SFF transceiver document entitle "NetLight 1417K4A 1300nm Laser 2.5 Gbits/s SpeedBlaster Transceiver" published by Lucent Technologies on July 1998, describes in detail such a transceiver. The dimensions of the present SFF transceiver module are provided therein for reference. The present invention is not limited to a transceiver socket of any particular dimensions. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to a transceiver socket only for small form factor transceivers. The present invention may provide a socket for other known transceivers and modules such as 1.times.9's, GLMs, etc.
FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the small form factor transceiver 10.
FIG. 3 is a connector port end view of the small form factor transceiver 10 displaying the placement of the connector ports 14, 15.
FIG. 4 is another end view of the small form factor transceiver 10.
FIG. 5 is a side view of the small form factor transceiver 10 mounted to a printed circuit board 16. The small form factor transceiver 10 is, typically, permanently soldered inplace on the printed circuit board 16.
FIG. 6 is a printed circuit board land pattern or footprint 17 which must be formed on the printed circuit board 16 so as to receive the small form factor transceiver 10. Conductive contact pads 18, 19 are formed for receiving the attaching posts 11, 12, and the conductive contact pads 20 are formed for receiving the pins 13. Each contact pad 18, 19, 20 has an opening for receiving the respective attaching post and pins. The arrangement of the footprint is one example for which the present invention may be applied or mounted.
The internal circuitry of transceivers can vary from one another depending on its type such as for an SFF and/or based on customer requirements. For instance, one customer may desire MT-RJ type connector ports, another customer may require LC connector ports, and still another customer may require VF45 connector ports. Additionally, the transceiver can be configured so as to receive signals from either a single mode fiber or a multi-mode fiber. Furthermore, the internal circuitry of the transceiver may be structured so as to accommodate signals operating at a long wavelength such as 1,300 nm, and another transceiver may have its signal conditioning hardware designed for receiving short wavelength signals operating at approximately 850 nm or at low speeds such as 622 MBaud or high speed such as 1.25 GBaud or with 5V or 3.3V power supply. Finally, the entire transceiver circuitry may vary depending on the system architecture requirements such as gigabit ethernet or fibre channel. Therefore, multiple versions of a small form factor transceiver can be created based upon customer requirements.
Therefore, there is a need for producing a transceiver socket that provides a low cost printed circuit board which can easily be changed between different versions of a standard component, by mounting a socket to the host PCB. All of the above variations to the transceiver may be made available to the host system without destroying the host PCB. By using a socket, the desired transceiver may simply be removed from the host PCB and another transceiver snapped in place.